The Sviridov works on show here are a big orchestral suite
drawn from film music, a major piece for unaccompanied choir and three songs
from a cycle of five choral settings of Russian poets.

The Kursk-born Gyorgy Sviridov, amongst much else, wrote the Pathetique
Oratorio (review
~ review)
and favoured music for voices, often choirs but also solos. Amongst his singer-champions
are Dmitri Hvorostovsky and the late Elena Obraztsova. He had a 'weakness'
for the words of Pushkin - entirely forgivable.

This site has reviewed other Sviridov discs over the years: The Blizzard/Pushkin
Garland (Melodiya),
an orchestral collection (Boheme)
and a choral disc (Russian
Disc) but this only scratches the surface. Unrecorded, as far as I know,
are two pre-War piano concertos, one complete and one incomplete symphony,
two string quartets dating from just after the war and Brightlights
- an operetta in three acts.

The Snow-Storm is represented by a meaty suite in nine gem-like episodes.
Its saturated romance is delivered full-on but is all very tasteful and bursting
with telling ideas. It's the sort of music where there's often
a tear balanced precariously in the corner of the eye, so be warned. Try Spring
and Autumn followed by Romance. After all this sentiment, tr.6
is a pastiche march of Pushkin's time - cuirassiers and oompah bands.
The predominance of what we hear is movingly close to Prokofiev's incidental
music for Eugene Onegin and in more recent times to Howard Blake
(try the score for Riddle of the Sands). Everything is lit from within
by an electric Russian intensity. Once you have heard Winter Road
(tr. 9) you will wonder why people are not queuing up to license this music
for commercials, signature tunes and incidental music.

The voice figures in the remainder of this well-filled disc. Pushkin’s
Garland - Concerto for Chorus is all magical poise, recorded in a reverberant
acoustic that does not unfocus the sound. Instead it makes the voices hum
with warmth. My Sweetheart (tr. 11), among ten movements, is an impressive
example of stunningly unanimous work from the male singers. Their sound is
delivered with phenomenal force - both outright strength and passion. The
women singers also bring the power of a gale to their singing and within it
deliver Sviridov's strange swaying harmonies. There are many subtle
touches along the way including some breathtaking distant tiering in Echo
(tr. 13). Gong, piano and triangle join the voices for Grecian Feast.
The choirs and conductor Minin uphold an illustrious tradition also reflected
in Alexander Sveshnikov's Melodiya 1960s recording of the Rachmaninov
Vespers. The final Magpie Chatter is all very pecked out
with the men providing a boum-boum-boum-boum ostinato and the women romping
fierily along on the top line. Solo voices add character and colour. It's
clearly from the tradition also exploited by Rachmaninov in his Three
Songs for voices and orchestra. The basses are fulsomely recorded throughout
the Garland and the sopranos are all fierce attack on exposed high-notes.
Everything glowers with resonance. The precision of the singing is remarkable
as is the attention to shaping the words.

It was generous of Alto to add three of the Five Choruses to Lyrics by
Russian Poets even if it did involve dismembering these from the complete
sequence of five. The Melodiya original stopped with The Snowstorm
and The Garland. The memorable Gogol lyric, Of My Lost Youth,
with soloist V. Timonin, is strangely prayerful given its subject matter.
Then come two Esenin settings: On a blue night - an equable companion
to Stanford's Bluebird with its equally 'blue'
sound. Sviridov here changes a shimmer to a hum. Then there's The
herd of horses where contrasts of distance and closeness are artfully
used.

All credit to Alto for giving us the words of the Pushkin Garland
even if it is in English-only when the singing is in Russian. There is no
sign of the words for the three Choruses to Lyrics by Russian Poets.
The predictably useful notes are by James Murray, one of the unsung heroes
of the classical music world.

Another triumph for Alto, who have a gift for choosing fine and revealing
recordings from the worldwide marketplace.